Starring Grizzy and Sophie

This picture is old, but it reminded me of what’s going on right now: grooming! Grizzy is having a field day cleaning out Sophie’s ears. I find it both funny and gross, but she seems to like it just fine.

This reminds me…I was over at my parents’ house earlier today, and while I was petting her orange tom (names, coincidentally enough, “Thomas”), I commented on how clean his ears were. Honestly, they had to be the cleanest ears I’ve ever seen! Perfectly pink with not a speck of wax. My mom replied, “That’s because Pearl [one of their other cats] is always cleaning them out for him.” LOL!

I’m in my last semester of grad school (HURRAH), which eats up a lot of my time and just motivation, and on top of it work has been chaotic (reorgs – what fun!). I’ve just felt kind of drained and just blah, even though life is good. I’m still employed, I’ve got a nice place to live, I’ve got good friends (even if I am being a hermit right now), my kitties are wonderful…I feel kind of bad because I don’t feel as present as I should be. But six more weeks! Forty-two more days! That’s right, I’m counting them down, haha.

Anyhow, I thought of that now because I am sitting here working on my final project and I looked down and saw little Miss Sophie curled up in a ball by my feel and my heart just melted. I don’t know how I could have stuck it out this semester without them. I am one lucky cat mom.

Every day I wake up and I think how lucky I am to have my two kitties. They always make me smile and laugh.

Sophie is especially silly sometimes. I had to snap this pic because I’ve not seen a cat lay like that! Of course, she’s a busy little thing, so I’m sure she was there for all of five seconds before she was up and zipping to her next matter of business.

In other news, Gigi was back last night and again about an hour ago. I called a few humane societies about her (i.e., could I rent a trap and bring her in to get scanned or spayed?). They were all polite, and some very nice, but all were very honest, meaning Gigi’s options are pretty limited and not necessarily happy endings.

Right now (that is, since I spoke with the last shelter rep) I’m taking the advice of one and trying to get a better look at her to see if she’s pregnant or not. I was going to get a trap just in case, but I didn’t see or hear her for about a week. Now she’s back again, so I’ll likely call tomorrow and see if I can get a trap. I was also thinking of putting out a little shelter for her? I wish I could just scoop her up and bring her inside but I know that, no matter how sweet Gigi is, that would NOT be a safe or smart option. (Not to mention, she scurries away when I get too close to the window, so I highly doubt I could actually pick her up.)

I’m worried for her tonight because I heard her and I assume another cat (?) fighting a few minutes ago. 😦 Sophie ran and hid while Grizzy puffed up his tail and went to the window. It was a pretty loud fight.

I so wish more people were responsible pet owners! I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but argh. I wish people would spay or neuter their pets – and take care of them, as they committed to do so when they first adopted the animals. Pets are living, sentient beings, not things you just dispose of when you tire of them. Why do so many people not seem to grasp this? Argh. Again, I know I’m preaching to the choir.

I can’t believe how quickly time is going by. Although I have to say, I’m glad it’s October, because that means in fewer than three months I’ll be done with school! This weekend is the halfway point for me, thank goodness. It’s been a long semester already.

I’m also happy it’s October because I feel like it’s a special month for my black kitties. 🙂 They are doing so well. It seems like the past week or so something clicked and now they are even more relaxed than usual. Maybe it settled, at least for Grizzy, that he has a forever home and he won’t be in a shelter again? No matter what the reason, it’s so nice. We are a family.

I also wanted to show a neat toy our friend Rene and the gang brought over! It’s the Cat’s Meow. There is a tiny “mouse” that “runs” around under the yellow sheet. Sophie and Griz go ballistic over it – Sophie especially. I’m on my second set of batteries already. For a while, she’d lay on it in the morning waiting for me to turn it on. Then after work, she’s whine until I put it on. But it’s great fun watching them play.

Sophie loves her new toy

It was hard to get good pictures because she zips around when it’s on! Thanks, Rene, for the awesome gift. 🙂